Response of Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services to Climate Change in China: A Review

Climate change is having a significant impact on the global ecosystem and is likely to become increasingly important as this phenomenon intensifies. Numerous studies in climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services in China have been published in recent decades. However, a comprehensive review of the topic is needed to provide an improved understanding of the history and driving mechanisms of environmental changes within the region. Here we review the evidence for changes in climate and the peer-reviewed literature that assesses climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem, and ecosystem services at a China scale. Our main conclusions are as follows. (1) Most of the evidence shows that climate change (the increasing extreme events) is affecting the change of productivity, species interactions, and biological invasions, especially in the agro-pastoral transition zone and fragile ecological area in Northern China. (2) The individuals and populations respond to climate change through changes in behavior, functions, and geographic scope. (3) The impact of climate change on most types of services (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural) in China is mainly negative and brings threats and challenges to human well-being and natural resource management, therefore, requiring costly societal adjustments. In general, although great progress has been made, the management strategies still need to be further improved. Integrating climate change into ecosystem services assessment and natural resource management is still a major challenge. Moving forward, it is necessary to evaluate and research the effectiveness of typical demonstration cases, which will contribute to better scientific management of natural resources in China and the world

Variations of Climate-Growth Response of Major Conifers at Upper Distributional Limits in Shika Snow Mountain, Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, China

Improved understanding of climate-growth relationships of multiple species is fundamental to understanding and predicting the response of forest growth to future climate change. Forests are mainly composed of conifers in Northwestern Yunnan Plateau, but variations of growth response to climate conditions among the species are not well understood. To detect the growth response of multiple species to climate change, we developed residual chronologies of four major conifers, i.e., George’s fir (Abies georgei Orr), Likiang spruce (Picea likiangensis (Franch.) E.Pritz.), Gaoshan pine (Pinus densata Mast.) and Chinese larch (Larix potaninii Batalin) at the upper distributional limits in Shika Snow Mountain. Using the dendroclimatology method, we analyzed correlations between the residual chronologies and climate variables. The results showed that conifer radial growth was influenced by both temperature and precipitation in Shika Snow Mountain. Previous November temperature, previous July temperature, and current May precipitation were the common climatic factors that had consistent influences on radial growth of the four species. Temperature in the previous post-growing season (September–October) and moisture conditions in the current growing season (June–August) were the common climatic factors that had divergent impacts on the radial growth of the four species. Based on the predictions of climate models and our understanding of the growth response of four species to climate variables, we may understand the growth response to climate change at the species level. It is difficult to predict future forest growth in the study area, since future climate change might cause both increases and decreases for the four species and indirect effects of climate change on forests should be considered

Radial Growth Response of Abies georgei to Climate at the Upper Timberlines in Central Hengduan Mountains, Southwestern China

Climate change has an inevitable impact on tree radial growth, particularly at mountain timeberlines. To understand climate effects on conifer radial growth in the central Hengduan Mountains, and the potential impacts of future climate change on conifer forests, we studied the growth responses to climate variables in Abies georgei, the major tree species of conifer forest in the Hengduan Mountains. We collected tree ring samples from four sites near the timberlines and analyzed the relationship between principle components (PC#1) of four chronologies and climatic variables (monthly mean temperature and monthly total precipitation) by using response function analysis (RFA), redundancy analysis (RDA), and moving interval analysis (MIA). A. georgei growth was affected by both temperature (positive effects) and precipitation (negative effects). Specifically, the radial growth of A. georgei was significantly and positively correlated with current July (by 6.1%) and previous November temperature (by 17.3%) (detected by both RFA and RDA), while precipitation of current June (by 6.6%) and September (by 11.7%) inhibited tree growth (detected by RDA). More rapid warming in the most recent 20 years (1990–2010) clearly enhanced growth responses to July and November temperature, whereas the relationship was weakened for June and September precipitation, according to MIA. Under the climate trend of the study area, if the increasing temperature could offset the negative effects of excessive precipitation, A. georgei radial growth would likely benefit from warming

Research on the change of alpine ecosystem service value and its sustainable development path

Alpine ecosystems play an important role in maintaining carbon sequestration, water balance, ecological security, biodiversity and human well-being. However, climate change and high-intensity human activities lead to the continuous degradation of vulnerable alpine ecosystems. Based on this, we reveal trends in ecosystem change in the Qilian Mountains of China on a 40-year scale and identify the primary driving factors of change in alpine ecosystems from the perspective of ecosystem service value (ESV) change, providing a more comprehensive picture of the interactions between human society and natural ecosystem. The results showed that more than 55 % of ecosystem types changed from 1980 to 2018, with forests, grasslands, glaciers and bare land being the most vulnerable ecosystems to disturbance, and forest and grassland ecosystems having significant ESV potential (43.99 % and 29.57 %, respectively). However, significant land use and land cover (LULC) changes over the last decade have led to a reduction in ESV stability in alpine ecosystems, where human activities have a more significant impact on ESV of sparse woodland, shrubland and grassland ecosystem at 2800–4000 m. The temperature rise had a more noticeable impact on the ESV of glaciers, alpine meadows and bare land ecosystems at 4000–5500 m. In the long terms, climate change and population growth will threaten the restoration and management of alpine ecosystems. Different ecological development strategies need to be adopted along the altitude, and the establishment of cross regional horizontal ecological compensation mechanism should be accelerated to promote the sustainable development of ecology and people’s livelihood in mountainous areas. The results of this study will provide relevant theoretical basis and reference for decision makers, and provide a model for scientific management and sustainable development of alpine ecosystem resources worldwide